Sunday, May 3, 2009

Firsts -

This last weekend was a couple of Firsts for this adventure we are on in California.

-Ben's Sister and her family (Melissa, Chad, and Chase) made their 1st visit from Elko, Nevada. It is always nice to have visitors. Jaden, Megan, and Lanie haven't seen cousins that often so they loved playing with Chase. We all ate our fair share of food (as seen by the candy wrappers), and as always didn't play enough card games.

-Ben ran his 1st ever half marathon on Saturday. Where did that come from you ask? Melissa and Ben had this idea in December to start training for a half marathon. After really starting to train the first part of February it just so happened this weekend worked out perfectly with a 1/2 marathon along the American River Parkway in Sacramento. If you want to see pictures of the course and where Melissa and Ben placed check out www.parkwayhalf.com (yes it is the 1/2 marathon not the 1/2 walk and we ran all 13 miles)! Melissa ran the St. George Marathon (26 miles) several years ago so she is experienced and helped get Ben motivated, in decent shape, and across the finish line. Yes, his little sister even finished ahead of him and believe it or not neither of them are extremely sore.

-Natalie had her 1st California scrapbook retreat and we are all shocked it took nearly 10 months to occur. Even though timing wasn't all that good with both events falling on the same weekend she still managed to complete over 20 plus pages, stay up until after 4 am both nights (she's asleep on the couch as we speak), and come home anxious to see the rest of us despite missing out on the events in California's Capital.

-I believe this is a first. Chad, since he wasn't crazy enough to scrapbook or run 13 miles with his wife and Brother-in-law, he was gracious enough to watch 4 kids (reminder 3 of which aren't his) for several hours. He is the one that should get a shirt and medal! In order to pay him back we stopped by Bass Pro Shop on the way home. It may not be as good as Cabella's but for this trip it will have to do. We would have taken more pictures of these events but the camera's were left in Nevada and Modesto. LOL!

Next up - a 10k in Utah in July!!


Isn't Chase cute!!


Chad and Melissa playing cards!


The proof - Nice shirts and medals!


The Happy Marrott Family!


The Scrapbooker in Preparation Mode!

6 comments:

Tricia and Michael said...

Congrats! and totally jealous. (of the time spent with the marrott's, eating good food, and accomplishing alot of scrapbooking. . . . not so much the 13 mile jog though. especially since it rained the whole time) We are however CONSIDERING joining the club in july. but don't hold your breath.

The Gonzales Gang said...

Wow! Very impressive! How many "Get Fit" points do you think we would have gotten for the half marathon?? Hmmmm.... Miss you guys sooo much! We thought about you guys this weekend when we went to the Legacy Play Village. Remember that day?? We had a blast!! I still owe Nat those pictures. Sounds like everyone is doing great! We pray that God continue to bless you and watch over you till we see each other again! Love ya - Da Gang!!

Marrott Family said...

Yah, even after 13 miles of running, I still have a flat tire/belly bulge. Atleast we finished right? And I did purchase a new pair of shoes on our way out of Reno.

Lisa said...

Yahoo, Yippee--congrats for all the firsts!!

The Aussie and the Owl said...

What amazing stuff! Marathons look like a lot of work :). Nat - that scrapbook retreat sounded amazing and fun. 20 pages? Way to go!!!

Anonymous said...

How fun! We can't wait to come visit. So glad you guys accomplished so much. I wanna squeeze all those cute kids!